Signboard outfit



May 24, 1932. A. THOMPSON SIGNBOARD OUTFIT Filed Sept. 16, 1951 Z1 l Y NT U E? ISMJQNE a INVENTOR HndrfWZJ/ma 9 BY Y ATTQRNEYS Patented May 24,1932 UNITED STATES PATE NT OFFICE 'ANDREW THOMPSON, OF NIAGARA FALLS,NEW YORK, .ASSIGNOR TO THE EMBOSSING COMPANY, F ALBANY, NEW YORK, ACORPORATION 0F NEW YORK SIGNBOARD OUTFIT Application led September 16,1931. Serial. No. 563,010.

This invention relates'to signboards or display outfitsV having lettersand otherv cha-racters which may be variously arranged so that differentspacings of the letters and" words may be had in accordance with theneeds of any particular signboard.

My invention involves the use ofV letter blocks whichare provided with aplurality of projections for aiiixing the same to a board 1G havingrecesses therein.

separated byV two series of raised strips, one series of strips beingangularly related toV the other and intersecting the same whereby aplurality of polygonal. re- 16 cesses are formed intermediate thestrips.

There are a plurality of projections on the un-V der side of eachAletter block and these are sof proportioned as to engage the fourboardering strips of a single recess orthe intersecting 20 stripsbetween four recesses or both. sides of a single horizontal stripbetween-two recesses or both sides of a single vertical strip betweentwo recesses, thus providing a plurality of possible positions of asingle block for each grouping of four recesses, the number ot suchpositions being dependent upon thenuinb'er of projections which eachblock has. The recesses in the board enable the accurate.alinementofwords-which are made up. by the in- 36 dividual letterblocks.

Thesize of a letter block is such that the edges of adjacent letterblocks` abut when the blocks are held by adjacent4 recesses, and wordsmay be spaced or the spacing of letters may be increased fractionallydepending upon.

i showing-itsupperside.

The recesses arev Fig.A -3 is aperspectiveview of a letter block. f

Fig. 4 is ay perspective view of a letter block showing its underside.

Fig. 5Y is a diagrammatic showing of the` manner in which the spacingandi placing of letters andwords may be varied.

The signboard outfit illustrated in Figs. l and 2 includes: a base orbackground 9` having a multiplicity of rectangular recesses I0 arrangedin horizontalV and vertical alinement. These recesses are defined byv aseries of horizontal stripsll and a series of vertical strips l2 whichextend throughout the surtace of the base or background.

Ordinarily itis preferable to mount the base Within a.l box similar tothat show-n in Figs. lf and' 2. This box has a bottom 13 toI which. theboard. is attached, and a coverlli, hinged to thebottom` 13, carries-acoverglass` l5 through which the sign maybe viewed. Since signs areusually: mounted' inI a vertical positiomit is desirable to keepftheletter bloclis fromshi-ftingtheir positionsand for this purpose thecover glass is soypositioned as--to extend over thetops-of theletterblocks.

Theletter blocks, of which one is shownin. Figs. 3 andz- 4,. are` of thesame shape as the rectangular recesses in the base, in. the priesentinstance square, andtheir areais` such as to contact their edges whenadjacent'blocks are similarly secured in the base. The upper sides, ofthe latter blocks carry letters, preferably embossed and contrastinglycolored on top,. as shown in Fig. 3, andi some may bear differentindicia. as. well.` as punctuationmarks.. '.Ilhe under side of each`letter block hasl foul-"projections as illustrated inFig; 4Q.. Theseprojections are sospaced in respect to one another that the projectionsin a vertical line may-lie at oppositesidesof a-hor-iwzo'ntal strip 1Landi the projections-in a horizontal line may: lie at opposite sides ofa vertical nstrip l2. As maybe understood trom Fig'. 5,

the. projections 11.18;@ and 20er-e' soplo# portioned as tosnugly engagea4 single recess lOf or' a singlehorizontallstrip IlI or a singlevertical strip 1Q; or both` ai horizontal and' vertical strip,A as'.illustrated by' the letter blocks 21%,-, 22,.. Q31 and.f 241,..respectively.

The letter blocks may be made.; im any manner which. is productive ofiasn'iootl-isnr'- face and attractive lettering. In view of the excellentresults that may be obtained by embossing, I prefer to use this methodand the blocks may be made by the embossing process described in thepatent of Charles M. Hyatt No. 1,322,792, issued November 25, 1919. Inthis process a wooden blank, cut with the grain perpendicular to thesquare faces is forced down into a tubular die by means of an upperplunger die which forces the blank with great pressure upon a Ilower dieat the bottom. The side walls of the tubular die compress the Woodradially inwardly and impart a high finish to the sides of the block andthe upper and lower dies shape and impart a high finish to the faces ofthe block. The operation is rapid and uniform in results and has thefurther advantage that the powerful compression of the wood strengthensthe blank very substantially. With a rather tough wood, for eX- ample,well seasoned maple, the additional strength imparted by the compressionin-y sures virtually complete freedom from breakage of even thin letterblocks, inV spite of the fact that they are made endwise of the grain.

In use the letter blocks are selected to make up the desired wording forthe sign. I-Iaving reference to Fig. 1, it will be noticed that the wordNotice7 appears at the head of the sign. The letters in this word areheld in place by the projections straddling the vertical strips 12. Adash appears at either end of the word. This dash is spaced onehalf aletter from the end of the word and the projections of the dash blockengage the inner edges of the strips of a single recess. The word Noticeappears as a caption and the first line of the remaining words of thesign is spaced one full line space below. It is apparent that thisspacing may be any multiple of a half-letter spacing. Each of theletters appearing in the line bearing the words This sign is is bisectedby a single strip 12, and the spacing of the words is one full letterspace.

Each of the letters of the word Flexible is directly above intersectinghorizontal and vertical strips and the projections engage these stripsin the manner illustrated by letter block 24 in Fig. 5. The words of theline of words It can be used are so positioned as to balance the linewith the second line This sign is, and this is made possible by varyingthe spacing at either side of the word Be. The letter blocks of the lineMany ways7 are aiiixed to the base in a manner similar to the letterblock 22 in Fig. 5. It is proposed to nish the projections and therecesses in such a manner as to have uniformity in dimensions, andbecause of this all of the letter blocks will snugly engageY the stripsand recesses in the base howsoever placed in respect thereto:

In the interest of convenience, a base of an appropriate size similar tothe base of the sign may be provided as al letterholder or rack for theletter blocks which are not in use.

It is apparent that while I have shown the strips in the haseintersecting each other at right angles, a different angular relation of these strips is possible and I do not desire 1t to be understood thatthe invention is limited t'o the form herein specifically described forit is apparent that it is susceptible of embodiment in other formsWithout departing from the spirit of the invention and coming within thescope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A letter block for a sign outfit comprising a board having aplurality of square recesses which are separated by raised strips andletter blocks to be engaged by said strips, said block having fourprojections on its under surface arranged in a square whose dimensionscorrespond with those of a recess, the projections being spaced fromeach other a distance corresponding to the width of the raised strips onthe board.

2. A sign outit comprising a board having a plurality of polygonalrecesses separated by two series of strips, the strips in one seriesbeing parallel to each other and running at an angle to the strips ofthe other series, and a plurality of letter blocks, each having a`letter on its upper surface and a plurality of projections on its lowersurface, said projections being arranged to t within a single recess inthe board when in one position on the board or to blank both sides of astrip when the block is in another position on the board.

3. A sign outfit comprising a board background having a plurality ofpolygonal recesses separated by two series of strips, the strips in oneseries being parallel to each other and running in a direction at rightangles with the strips of the other series, a plurality of letterblocks, each having a letter on its upper surface and a plurality ofprojections on its lower surface for engaging the sides of any one stripor of two adjacent strips depending upon the position of the letterblock upon the board and means for holding the letter blocks inpredetermined positions with their propections engaging the strips ofsaid board.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 in which the means for holdingthe letter blocks in predetermined positions comprises the glass coverof a box which overlies the surf face of the board.

5. In combination, a base for supporting letter blocks, said base havingin its upper surface a plurality of uniformly disposed recessesseparated by strips, and a plurality of letter blocks adapted to belocated in different positions in respect tosaid strips, each of saidletter blocks having on its under side a plurality of projections sospaced that adjacent projections may be disposed in recesses on theopposite sides of a strip or in a sin le recess, depending upon theposition it is esired that the block remain in respect to the surface ofthe base.

6. In combination, a base for supporting letter blocks, said base havingin its upper surface two series of raised strips, at right angles toeach other and forming a plurality of rectangular recesses in the base,and letter blocks arrangeable in different positions upon said base,each of said blocks being provided on its under side with a plurality ofpropections so proportioned as to lie Within a single recess of the baseor at opposite sides of a single strip, depending upon the position itis desired that the block remain in respect to the surface of the base.

In testimony whereof I hereto aix my signature. Y

ANDREW THOMPSON.

